Landon felt insulted by her exhortation that the man-witch, this
Dwane guy was so strong. He was still skeptical about this whole magic thing being anything more than a few minor tricks that he had yet to explain how they were done. And here, this faceless man was going to destroy them all if they got in his way? Father Justin, even? Apparently she didn't know that priest very well. Not like Lan knew him. Whatever level of evil was inside Dwane could be rivaled by the preacher's black-heart. And no matter how strong he was with 'magic', Lan was sure that the people of this town could do something. "It doesn't matter if he's a witch or not," he said firmly. "Soul or no soul and magical or normal--he's just a man
and he'll bleed like anyone else." He stopped and marveled at how threatening his tone had gotten at the end there.
Ease, up, killer, he chided himself in his head.
No need to get so sanguine about it.
Hearing her next words, he got the urge to touch her shoulder again to comfort her, but successfully kept himself restrained this time. He didn't like her thinking so morbidly but he had no words of comfort to offer other than what he'd already said, and she'd brushed his confidence away like he was a toy kitten compared to tiger. Then things started to get away from him. She was grabbing his hand and speaking to him in a soft yet pained voice, anger and sadness battling over her pretty features. He stood speechless at what she said and the assertions she made. No! He wasn't scared! Well...he
was...a little bit... But that hadn't been why he'd stopped himself from touching her!
Then Lan's heart ached at the sight of her tears--tears he'd caused her to shed--and he felt helpless to stop it. He didn't need to be in a relationship with her to hurt her--he was doing just fine as it was, and he felt silly and foolish for having tried to protect her by keeping himself distant.
When she pressed his hand to her face, he felt himself grow hot and then cold at the contact, feeling the wetness on her cheek under his fingertips. A blush rose to his cheeks a little as the urge to keep his hand there and to touch her more came upon him, and he barely restrained himself from caressing her cheek with his fingers. He was startled from his internal struggle when she spoke and his mouth worked soundlessly as he tried to find something to say. Leave town? Gah! Why had he even said that before? Trying to run her out of town. Where would she go on her own? And pregnant as well! He was such an idiot! It had been a foolish thing for him to have suggested in the first place--foolish, unprofessional and completely selfish of him. Trying to chase the girl away because he was scared of loving her! Where was his head? Ever since she'd come to town it seemed he'd lost his mind!
But now he was even more scared that she was seriously considering doing this--he had to stop her! He was still fumbling by the time she dropped his hand and turned away and all he got out was, "Dorelia, wait!" before she'd gone over to the book shelf. Then he was standing there wide-eyed as she turned the book in her hands--one of his unused notebooks--into the large book she'd brought with her to town. And then all other words fled from his mind as he muttered, "
Holy shit..." and shuddered anxiously. There was that...
thing again:
magic. Alright, so he was terrified of what she could do, but it didn't mean he wanted her to leave. The things she could do just freaked him out a little bit--he knew she wasn't dangerous. She just made him face the unknown and THAT was what was scary for him--not that he thought she would hurt anybody. He knew she wouldn't.
But all of this died in his throat as she left the room with her arms wrapped around her book and he stood there, letting her go. Letting out a harsh breath from his lips, Lan scrubbed his hands through his hair frustratedly. How many times were they going to go through this song and dance? Was he ever going to stop upsetting her or getting mad at her? He figured he'd let her go calm down right now before he went to talk to her about leaving town. He'd have to convince her to stay, there was no question of that, but the 'how' had yet to come to him.
Turning back to his lab, Landon went back over to the two rabbits still hooked together and started to take them a part from one another. Setting the blood tubes aside he carried both of them, one under each arm, still asleep, out back and put them away in their cages. The miller's son, Joey showed up not too long after he closed the cages, watching as Lan stood brooding at the two unconscious animals.
"Everythin' a'right, sir?" the boy asked, rubbing his nose with his sleeve.
Lan turned to him with a bit of surprise but gave the young 13 year old a smile. "Yes, everything's fine, Joseph," he said in congenial tones, for once pleased to have company. He really didn't want to be alone with his thoughts right now. "You here to help me feed them?" The boy nodded, giving him a smile back and Lan nodded his head and walked over to the shed behind his house, the boy following close behind. They left the shed both with a bag of feed in hand and approached the crates against the back of the lab.
"So me ma and da want me to get to know this girl," Joey was saying as they started to fill the small troughs in each cage with grains from the bags. "And I don' really wanna, but they says she's a fine one and they want me to get married to her someday."
"Uh-huh," Lan said, feeling relaxed for once, just listening to the boy talk and enjoying the lad's presence. Joe seemed delighted to have an audience as well especially with the alchemist. He hung around the lab occasionally, fawning after Lan and trying to get his attention and there was some guilt as Lan realized all the times he'd brushed the boy off or gotten mad at him for being in the way. It occurred to him that he wasn't a very nice person and he wondered why the people of this town put up with him for so long. Then he remembered the alternative: Father Justin.
"So, we play by the dunes out behind me da's mill," the boy continued as he put grains into a rabbits cage. "And she's a lot of fun to be wit'. But then when I ask her if she'd want to go to the Fall festival dance with me--"
Lan looked at the boy with a quirked eyebrow. "The Fall festival isn't but for many months yet, Joseph," his tone was somewhat questioning.
"I know," Joe said, shrugging. "But I like her and I've never danced with a girl 'fore." Lan nodded his head in understanding before the boy went on. "So, anyways, I ask her if she'd go with me and she says 'Will I have to wear a pretty dress?' And I laugh and say, 'I hope so! If you'll marry me someday, you'll be wearing pretty dresses everyday!' And then she punches me in the arm! Like I said something to hurt her feelings!" Joey shook his head in disbelief and was silent for a few moments. "And then, I push her and she falls down into the sand dune a little ways. Then she's runnin' off cryin' to her ma and pa and gets me in trouble! I don't understand! We was playin' rough all morning and she fell down lots of times without makin' a fuss about it. I didn't even push her that hard!" The boy sulked a bit as he continued to feed the rabbits.
"Hm. Who was this?" Lan asked with a considering look.
"Feyra Jerat," Joey answered, looking at Lan like he might have some advice to offer.
Well, that explained it. Feyra Jerat was a bit of a tomboyish wild-child. Her parents were constantly trying to get her to become a little lady as the boisterous 12 year old grew older. But still she wanted to climb things and run and play-wrestle with the boys, even though her body was starting to go through changes that made it obvious she wasn't a child anymore. Now, Lan understood what the boy was saying, and he sighed with a small smile.
"Well, Joseph," Lan said as they set the bags aside and started to get the water bottles from the rabbits cages and filled them at the barrel by the lab's back door. "Women are complicated creatures and very fragile. There's no clear cut answer to understanding them. You just have to be patient and realize they don't think the same way we do." He handed the full water bottles to the boy to put in the cages and with a small twist of his mouth, Joey nodded. He still didn't understand, but what the alchemist had said made him feel like it wasn't just something he was missing. It seemed like nobody understood women was what Lan was saying.
Landon nodded with a sympathetic grin at the boy before continuing to fill the water bottles he had in his hands. "Hey, they've woken up!" the boy said excitedly and Lan turned around with furrowed brow. While feeding them, Joey had noticed the two rabbits that had been asleep and now pointed to them both, the two animals awake and alert in their cages. If Lan hadn't set them apart from the rest after he'd put them away, he probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between these two and the rest--they were acting just the same, healthy and awake. As Lan came over he stared wide-eyed with a smile growing on his face. Mostly he looked at the rabbit on the bottom crate, the one that had been a match to the blood of the first, and the one he'd put the blood into. It's dark brown eyes blinked at him as he stared, it's little nose bouncing a mile a minute. From the looks of things, there was no telling anything had happened to it and he felt a triumphant excitement burst inside him.
"
Yeah!" Lan said hopping up from his crouched position beside the cages, shouting in victorious glee. The outburst startled both Joey and all the rabbits, all of them jumping in surprise at the excitement of the alchemist. And despite himself, Lan even began to dance a little in pure joy.
The experiment had worked! It was a match! It was a match!
The boy understood that something grand had happened, but he didn't know what. Also, he'd never seen Landon act this way before and it kind of worried him a little bit. "Are you a'right, sir?" he asked querulously, scratching his head in confusion.
Still smiling brightly Lan turned to the boy, remembering that he was there. "Yes, yes, everything is fine! In fact everything is PERFECT!" Seeing the somewhat confused look on the lad's face, he resisted the urge to laugh merrily, having already freaked the boy out enough. "Uh, Joe, could you finish up here? I have some things I need to see to." He waited for the boy to nod and gave him a smile and appreciative pat on the arm before he hurried on his way. He had to tell Dorelia!
He went through the lab, putting on his jacket before he left again, a bright smile on his face as he left the building through the double doors, not even thinking to check the hospital for her. Confidently striding along he walked to Abigail's house, barely keeping himself from skipping on the way. When he got there, he knocked on the door in good spirits and entered when he heard the old woman beckon him from inside. Opening the door wide he stepped in grandly, his face alight and his chest puffed out, almost practically singing as he asked after Dorelia.
Abby who was busy cleaning her house, gave him a confused look. "I thought she was with you," she said, wiping down the dining table with a rag. "She left at least an hour ago to go and give you a tea plant."
"I know!" he said, practically giggling to himself remembering what the tea plant was for. "She gave it to me and it was the best thing ever!" He was barely paying attention to what he was saying, looking around the room for the young witch.
Abby put her hands on her hips, giving the man a suspicious look. "Alright, who are you and what have you done to the real Landon Cane?" She was somewhat amused by his current state. The man was like an excited puppy and it was odd seeing him like this.
The smile he had started to turn a bit serious as he continued to look for the young woman. "When was the last time you saw her?" he asked, going to the bedroom and poking his head in for a quick look around.
"I told you, an hour ago--Lan, get out of there!" she said somewhat scandalized at his nosiness. What if Dorelia had been in there and he'd seen her in a state of undress? The man had no decorum at all.
At first seeing her things still in the room gave him a bit of relief, but with the way she could make them appear with her at will like with the book--and yes, he shivered at the thought of how she'd done that--his frown deepened as he thought of her last words to him...
Where was she? Praying that she hadn't left town already he started back towards the front door, unmindful of the looks Abigail was giving him. "If she comes back here, while I'm gone, you make sure she stays here, alright?"
From the worried frown on his face, Abigail started to get concerned as well. "Why? What has happened? What is going on?" But he was going out the door while she was talking. "
What did you do now?" she asked quietly after he was gone.
His good mood gone now, he stalked the streets looking left and right anxiously, sweeping over the people he passed looking for her face to be one of those he saw. Even as worried as he was that she was already gone, something told him she was not... A certain feeling in his veins that told him she had not left yet. He shrugged it off as mere intuition and hopeful thinking, but couldn't get rid of the surety that she was still here. Somehow, he just knew she was. And when he thought about it, wondering about all the places she could be, he remembered the tea plant. She hadn't arrived to town with it so she must have bought it here and the only person who sold that kind of thing was...
Altering his course slightly, he made his way to Susy's house, dreading the experience of seeing the herbalist. Several years ago, the young woman's mother had died and she'd taken up the craft of tending herbs. The girl had no idea what she'd been doing and the notes her mother had left behind were nothing but gibberish. Lan had been a regular customer and had become somewhat used to herbs himself. So, he'd taken her under his wing and helped her out, while she helped him by providing the ingredients for his medicines. There had been attraction between them and Lan had really liked her, so when Father Justin had stepped forward and accused the girl of being a witch, Landon had been there to protect her and successfully refuted the priest's claims, and quieted the mob's anger.
But apparently people had treated her differently after that and Susanne had become a clingy, bitter person. Oh, of course, she kept up the appearances of being up-beat and optimistic and sweet as ever. Behind closed doors, though, she showed Lan a different side, ranting and raving at times about the daily injustices she suffered and how she'd make something of herself and she'd show them all she wasn't someone to be trampled or discarded. The sentiment was an admirable one, but the way Susy delivered it came off as something different: every day she would come bursting into his lab with a sob story about something else the people had done to her, something else someone had said, and then she'd rage bitterly about how she'd change things some day and they would all see! THEY WOULD ALL SEE! And how sorry they'd be.
Needless to say it was quite a turnoff for Landon to see her so warped and twisted by her need for love and acceptance. For one, it wasn't healthy, and for two she'd become a different girl than the one he'd fallen in love with. He'd loved her for her sweet, gentle kindness, her naivete and how she used to think even the most simple science experiments were the most amazing things she'd seen. She'd thought he was a genius and even though she hadn't understood half of what he showed her in his lab, no matter how much he explained it...it had been nice to have the attentions of a woman on him for a change. In the town he'd grown up in, all the boys and young men who were brawny and wealthy got attention, and Lan had always been quiet and brain smart and thus ignored. Then when he'd left to go school in the city when he was 15, it had been too much of a feverish battle to work as an apprentice and study his books to pay any attention to women.
Susy had been a welcome surprise, that someone could like him despite his lack of a hairy chest and muscles or lots of money. So, even when she'd continued to have problems and involved him in her daily torment at the hands of the townspeople, he'd continued to love her and comfort her and hoped she'd finally give up being this ugly monster she'd become. It was only after several months that he realized, she hadn't really changed at all from before. This hate inside her had always been there, he just hadn't seen it...or hadn't wanted to see it. Father Justin's accusations and the people's continued dislike of her had only given her the freedom to display who she'd been all along. And Landon, the one person who cared for her, the one man who loved her, was the one she showed it to. Everyone else got smiles and that giggly sweet girl who didn't let anything bother her. But as soon as they were alone, Susy would turn to him and say, "Did you see that?
Did you see that? The way she looked at me just then? You can tell she didn't really mean what she said. They all talk about me behind my back. They'll see.
Someday I'll show them all that I'm not someone you mess with! And then who'll be the one running home crying to their bed?"
Eventually he'd decided that it was too much to have her around and the love he'd felt for her had died with every progressing day, until it just wasn't there anymore. So, he'd told her it was over and then had come the clinginess. As he'd started to push her away, she'd suddenly started to change her tune. Now she was back to praising him and showering him with gifts, and coming around all the time in an attempt to win him back. But the way she did it was so simpering, so pathetic, it was an even bigger turnoff than her venomous anger had been, and now he didn't even love her anymore. So he'd shoved her away, told her to stop coming by the lab, and had even yelled at her a few times to get her to see what talking calmly to her didn't allow her to understand. Progressively she'd gotten the hint and had gone away.
He still came by her shop to get ingredients occasionally and she always acted like he was coming over to give her a second chance. Which was why he was cringing now as he neared her door. But if Dorelia was here with her...witches liked herbs and stuff, didn't they? It was worth a try, and he let out a deep breath as he knocked on Susy's door.
It had been at least an hour since she'd visited Paitr the architect this morning and after going over the plans for her new greenhouse there had been nothing left for her to do, so she'd come home. When she answered the door, Susy's eyes widened just a bit when she saw Landon on her doorstep. "Hello, Lanny," she said pleasantly. "Won't you come in?" And she stepped out of the way to offer him entrance, opening the door wide.
Lan scowled a little and she giggled at the face he made. "I told you not to call me that, Susanne," he said a bit harshly. It had been her nickname for him while they had been dating and it annoyed him that she still used it. He shook his head at her offer to come inside. "No, thank you. I've just been looking for Dorelia. Is she here? Have you seen her?"
Susy pouted cutely at his refusal, but stood back into the doorway. "The witch-girl?" she asked nonchalantly. "No, I haven't seen her since this morning, when she came to buy a tea plant from me. The girl is really smart. She's going to help me organize my shop." She said it haughtily, continuing to talk because after she'd answered his questions, Lan had gotten a far off look, his brow furrowed in consternation as he rubbed his mustache with his fingers. Mostly she talked because she knew he was no longer paying attention to her and if she fell silent, he would leave. It was something that had happened before...on more than one occasion.
"She gave me a lot of money for that plant," she continued on in a proud voice. "Enough to finally buy the greenhouse I've been wanting to build. Now I'll have plenty of room for all of my plants and people will all see it big and glorious behind my house, the glass shining in the sun." He merely grunted in response, still lost in thought--
where is she? "You know they're saying she's a runaway heiress now and that the men from her rich family are gonna come looking for her."
That got his attention and the fog in his eyes cleared and he looked at her with a frown. "Hm? No, don't be silly. That's a stupid thing for people to think."
Susy pouted again as he looked off into space once more. Glancing over to the right, she saw Else Coplin standing on her porch with a baby on her hip. The young girl was watching discreetly and probably listening too. Susy frowned briefly, before putting on a cheerful smile and waving at the girl, making Else blush and turn away.
Ha! Don't want to get caught snooping? Then don't do it, little wench! Susy thought to herself, grinning maliciously. Then she turned back to Lan who was starting to come out of his thoughts and probably tell her something like, '
Thank you for your time' and then he'd leave!
"Well," Lan said suddenly, looking at Susy and shrugging. "Thank you for you--"
"Wait, Lan!" Susy said grabbing onto his arm as he started to turn away. "You should come inside!" Her voice was anxious and a little loud and had drawn Else's attention again, albeit the girl was watching from the corner of her eye now. Landon looked like he was going to refuse again, so thinking quickly Susy said, "I'm sure that girl, Doreina used up a lot of your medicines what with getting sick a lot. Maybe you'd like to come in and restock?" She tried to keep the pleading, desperate tone from her voice, but it came through just a bit.
"Nah, not really," he said, shaking his head and shrugging, drawing away from her a little. Then in the planter beside her front window he saw a flower and an idea came to him. When he did see Dorelia again he was going to have to apologize and probably get on his knees to beg her not to leave. But it would look so much better if he did not come empty handed. "Yeah..." he said slowly looking back at Susy nodding. "Yeah, I think I will come inside."
At his first words Susy had started to slump but at his sudden change of heart she brightened and clapped her hands. "Right this way, Lanny," she said pleasantly, opening the door and letting him inside before her.
"Don't call me that," he said grumpily as he walked past her into the house. Susy stayed on her doorstep and stuck out her tongue out at Else who had been watching candidly again and it made the girl turn away blushing once more.
Goodness! Else thought to herself, cradling the toddler on her hip.
No need to be completely rude! If you were going to advertise your business on your front doorstep where anyone could hear and see, then don't be mad when people looked! And the teenage girl sighed as Susy stepped into the house closing the door shut behind her, taking her interesting conversation with the alchemist inside.
Lan looked around the house, noting the greenery swarming everywhere and rubbed his hands together in thought. Nothing had really changed about the place since Susy's mother had been alive, except now the plants looked like they might be taking over. Remembering Susy's mother made Lan smile. The woman had definitely known her herbs and had taught him a lot about the medicinal properties of nature in the 5 years he'd known her. Then Susy was coming into the room, with an excited smile on her face and Landon drew back just a bit.
"What can I help you with, Landon darling?" she asked, batting her eyelashes prettily.
Thinking about what he wanted, he merely crinkled his eyebrows at her behavior--now that she had him in her house, the show had begun. "Don't call me that either," he said as a minor afterthought before continuing. "I need a few flowers..." he said, looking around uncertainly.
"Flowers?" she asked, playing with her long braid and looking coyly at him.
"Yes. You know how some flowers have different meanings?" he asked, ignoring her coquettish demeanor as he talked. "I'm looking for some to say 'sorry' and 'thank you' and possibly, 'please don't leave'...if you have any that are that specific..." He rubbed his mustache a bit in thought looking at her and hoping she understood what he meant.
Susy blushed a little and tried not to smile. Of course, she thought that the flowers were meant for her and she went over to her mother's notebook and flipped through it. "Hm, interesting," she murmured. "Are they for a girl?" She asked while glancing at him from under her long eyelashes, a small knowing quirk to her mouth.
"Well, yes," he said, rubbing his mustache again and putting a hand into his pocket. "They're for a friend."
Ugh! Just a friend? she thought to herself and pouted a little bit. But she sucked it up and with the book in hand led him out back behind her house. All along the wall under the shade of the awning were a bunch of wildflowers in the dirt right by the house. Kneeling down while looking through her mother's notebook Susy began to select out different flowers, but ones that she wanted to receive from him. There was some
Coriander, which stood for 'lust', a few
Forget-me-nots that meant 'true love', and a stalk of
Lavender that meant 'devotion'. She stood with the flowers she'd gathered, and handed them to him with a small smile.
Lan's eyes watched her carefully as she'd picked out the flowers and he brightened as she handed them to him, looking at the wonderful colors and how they blended well together. "This is it?" he asked her. "This all means what I said...what I asked for?"
"Yep," she said, holding her hands behind her back and blushing a bright red, waiting for him to hand them back to her and say something nice.
"Thank you," he said nodding to her with a pleased grin. "Dorelia will love these."
Abruptly Susy's smile disappeared and she stared in shock, her heart feeling like it was breaking into pieces. "What?" she asked, a little breathlessly, trying to gain a grip on herself and the world that suddenly seemed to be slipping away from her. "Who-who are they for?"
Landon was busy arranging the flowers together, so they looked nice and didn't notice her sudden change of expression. "They're for Dorelia," he said nonchalantly. "We had a fight earlier and I wanted to say I'm sorry."
Just as suddenly as she'd felt like the world was tipping on it's axis, Susy felt it right itself again. The two of them were having fights? And Lan was giving her flowers and saying he was SORRY? What the hell??? What had that-that witch done to her boyfriend? Whatever it was, it was obvious Dorelia was trying to move in on Lan and take him away from Susy. Well, she couldn't come in here and act all nice and buy him off of her! Lan was
her heart and soul and she'd be damned if she'd let another woman have him! That's when she realized the flowers she'd given him were all wrong--if he gave those to Dorelia, no doubt with how well she seemed to know plants, the woman would know what they meant. It would only encourage the harlot to chase him more! But Susy couldn't take them from him now, not that he seemed so happy with them and with her for helping him out--it would make her look like a crazy jealous fool if she were to try and give him different flowers now.
So she thought quickly again and knelt down by the flowerbed once more. "Just a second!" she said urgently and he stopped fussing over the plants in his hand and looked at her. "I...I forgot you wanted to say 'sorry'." Then she flipped through her mother's notebook and looked for the perfect message to send to Dorelia to tell the woman to '
back the fuck off!' She quickly picked out a stalk of
Hydrangea which said 'frigidness and heartlessness' and a
Begonia which meant 'beware'. At the very least, they'd certainly confuse the woman, with mixed signals. Standing up quickly, brushing her hair out of her face she handed them to him and he added them to the others, not thinking anything untoward about her hasty additions.
"Thanks," he said with a small platonic smile and a nod, situating the flowers in his hand so they fit in with the others as he started to walk away.
"You're welcome," she said flirtatiously, waving goodbye. "Anytime, Lanny."
As he walked away and neared the corner of her house he called back over his shoulder, "Don't call me that!" before he disappeared out of sight.
As he walked, he thought about the different things he would say to convince her to stay and before he knew it he'd arrived back at the hospital. Shrugging, he entered the double doors wondering where else he should look for her and on a whim he headed towards the hospital wings. Not expecting to find her here he was surprised when he entered the room and saw her laying down upon one of the beds.
"There you are!" he said with a sigh of relief, coming fully into the room and walking up to the bed she was laying on. Then he was speaking all in a rush, not noticing her tears or her mood. "Alright, I know what I said before, about you needing to leave, but I was just angry and speaking foolishly. It was a dumb idea to send you from this town especially with you being pregnant and all. In fact," he said laughing a little, trying to stay serious as he used his old excuse for getting people to do what he wanted. "I'm your
doctor and you have to listen to my advice and I advise you to stay in this town. At least until your baby is born. I'm not going to have a patient of mine wandering around the desert, big with child and getting heatstroke and possibly getting hunted down by all-powerful witchy men." He was blushing a little and trying to act stern--why was it so hard all of a sudden? Why was he laughing?--and had a finger pointed at her from the hand holding the flowers.
Remembering the flowers he handed them to her. "Oh! These are for you," he said with a small blush and nervous cough. Then he stood back and put his hands in his pockets and was able to calm the giddiness that had overcome him at first, his voice getting soft and quiet. "I'm sorry for the way I acted in the lab. I'm not scared of you and I know you won't hurt anybody. And I know what I saw when you did...those things... You just...you've gotta understand what this is like for me. The things that you can do...it makes everything I know to be true and real turn to ash before my eyes. The world is a big complex equation, everything working together in harmony, everything having a place and a cause and effect. Your...magic is like throwing an unknown variable into the mix. I don't know where it fits and I can't explain it and THAT is what...scares me..." It was hard admitting that, but he felt like he could to her, like it didn't matter if she thought he was weak for being scared. He knew she wouldn't think that.
"And you know," he said calmly. "It will be alright. I'm fine with you being who you are...as much as it freaks me out sometimes," he gave her a wry smile. "I'll get over it...I know I will. The more I'm around you when you do that sort of stuff, the more used to it I'll get...I'm sure..." he didn't sound too certain, but he hoped that was true. What more could she do that he hadn't seen already? The thought made him shiver just a little and he tried grinning at her nervously. "Maybe, maybe not..."
Then he laughed a little and looked down at the ground, then back at her again. "As far as the people of this town are concerned," he said licking his lips and frowning. "You leave them to me. If anything happens, I won't stand by and let them hurt you. I've helped you out so far... Can you trust me to continue to protect you?" Landon looked at her and rubbed his mustache as he waited for her to respond.
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